I vividly remember one little boy from my pediatric rotation during nursing
school. Two weeks before, he'd been a healthy eight-year-old, happily blowing dandelion puffballs when he inhaled a
single, feathery seed. In the dark, moist environment of his lung, the seed germinated. Irritation led to an abscess,
causing the child to fall seriously ill.

The first time I met the patient, he had just returned to the pediatric floor after spending
several days in intensive care. He later went back to ICU when his symptoms worsened again. Soon after, I changed
rotations and never heard whether he survived or not.

All because of one tiny seed.

Pornography can have a similar effect. One exposure plants a seed that can grow into an addiction. Unlike most seeds
that push up through the ground toward light, the seeds of pornography addiction thrive in darkness.

When our teenage son, Brandon, first stumbled across a pornographic cable channel while home alone, what he saw
shocked him. But he didn't tell us. Later he tuned to the station to watch "one more time." Then again and again.
He even began getting up in the middle of the night to watch under cover of darkness.

Secrecy and deceit provided
fertile ground where those images grew until they took over his thoughts. Brandon knew what he was doing was wrong,
yet he kept doing it. Each time, he promised himself it would be the last time. When he finally came to us for help,
he had a full-blown addiction.

Like the dandelion seed, pornography festered in our son's mind. It may not have caused physical illness, but
Brandon can testify to the pain it elicited and for a time, the type of spiritual death it induced. The Bible
says, "But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived,
it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death" (James 1:14-15).

Mercifully, God makes a way out of that dark tomb. He calls us to "lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the
armor of light" (Romans 13:12). He opens our eyes so we may "turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of
Satan to God, that [we] may receive forgiveness of sins" (Acts 26:18). He rescues us "from the domain of darkness,
and [transfers] us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" (Colossians 1:13).

Tell your children our story. Talk to them about the dangers of pornography. Plant God's Word in their hearts. Do
all you can to protect them from porn.